About

B + O design studio, pllc is a architecture, design & landscape architecture office in Wilmington, NC. Our philosophy and work feature sustainable design with an emphasis on modern ‘green’ solutions. From houses, commercial projects, and exterior spaces- we aspire to create meaningful, inspired experiences for our clients and the environment as a whole.

We’ve created this blog as a parallel off-shoot to our new website to have other posts; inspirations, musings, thoughts, links, images, other ‘marginalia’, etc. that may not fit in our on-line brochure, that is a commercial URL on the World Wide Web. Hope you enjoy!

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3 responses to “About”

My wife and I are about 1 week away from getting bids on a house designed by B+O in Waterford of the Carolinas.
The design process and construction drawing process took quite some time to achieve our goals. The upside is that the bidders are all very impressed at the level of detail that Scott and we have been able to bring to them in drawings and specifications. We’re hoping that everyone will be able to have tight, accurate prices because there is vitually no stone unturned in the documents.

Our experience with Scott has been unique because of his ability to involve both myself and my wife in the entire process. As an architect myself, I’m cerrtaain I drove him crazy at times, but in the end his patience and cooperation will make the house of our dreams very successful.

After living in our new home (a 1942 two-story brick colonial – BORING!) for a year, my wife and I decided to make the back yard more liveable. We were referred to B&O, and met with Lara to discuss ideas for a deck/fence/landscaping concept that would effectively provide an outdoor room where we could entertain or just relax and enjoy the scenery. One snag: part of the aforementioned “scenery” is the alley that sits behind our house. My uninformed idea was to put up a huge privacy fence along the back of the yard so I wouldn’t have to stare at my neighbors’ trash, HVAC units, etc. Lara had a different take on things…

She suggested that by simply angling the deck and fence a bit it would readjust our perspective so that instead of looking at the alley we would be looking at trees. When she said this, I thought to myself “Okay, I’m no designer, but do I really look that stupid?”. Otherwise stated, I was skeptical. Fast forward a few months – the deck and fence look unbelievable and, yes, the angle of the deck completely changes the view for the (much) better.

Lara is incredibly talented and knowledgeable, and is an absolute pleasure to work with.

To follow up on my posting of 1/9/09, we have now gone through 2 rounds of contractor bidding. No matter how tight the drawings might be, each builder has a strength and/or weakness that infuses their pricing with their perception of what quality vs. value standard you might want and what they think you should have.

I learned that being intimately involved in the pricing process by insisting that the builders give you detailed breakdowns by trade can only serve to help you and them arrive at a concensus opinion of where you want to be. By knowing our design and our goals in a detailed manner we were able to discuss why certain aspects of the cost were high and what to do about it. If you have an unlimited budget, then it doesn’t matter.

We were able to reduce the builders portion of the construction (I’m going to be responsible for furnishing some materials for them to install and others that I’m going to furnish and install) by the end of the second round by an average of 22%, while maintaining the integrity of the design, energy efficiency of the house, etc., by making some changes to materials selections, changing some design details and ommitting some minor aspects that can be done later.

Scott’s input was invaluable in guiding me in this part of the process. I think there are at least 6 criteria by which you need make judgements in selecting a contractor: quality of construction, relative value in terms of cost vs. quality, completeness of estimate, understanding of your goals, relationship developed during the bidding process and finally the actual cost. Comparing one bidder to the other using these criteria in a properly weighted manner can sometimes eliminate folks and sometimes propel someone to the top.